


What's in a Name

by Kokechii



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Adoption, Baby Names, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Prompt Fill
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-07
Updated: 2013-07-07
Packaged: 2017-12-18 01:28:39
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/874119
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kokechii/pseuds/Kokechii
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The adoption papers came through a week ago, and they still haven’t picked out the name. This was getting ridiculous.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name

**Author's Note:**

> This was written on a prompt by deepestfeelingsofmine from tumblr, for Sterek Week/Operation Positivity. The prompt was:  
> "Would you write something where Stiles and Derek argue about what would the name of their first adoption child be?"
> 
> I played around with the idea in my head for a while, and actually I took me the longest to find a suitable name when I got the idea on what name to use. Explanation on the meaning of the name taken from Wikipedia. I'm still more than a bit rusty on my English and my writing, but I hope you like it :)

_"All my life, my heart has yearned for a thing I cannot name._ "  
Andre Breton

 

 

They still haven’t picked out the name.  
  
The adoption papers came through a week ago, and Derek remembers, vividly. He was working on the stairs, because the evening before Isaac decided to test how hard he can jump from one stand point to another and the particular push he gave on the last jump dented the wooden stairs so much, that for the rest of the evening and the following morning they all had to jump over the three broken stairs.  
  
He almost smacked the hammer straight into his hand when he heard Stiles shrieking and something break. Leaving everything in a blur he appeared in the kitchen where Stiles was standing shock still, with tears threatening to spill down his face, holding a stack of papers and a crumpled envelope in his other hand. He approached him carefully and Stiles looked at him, grabbed his shirt with the hand holding the yellow envelope before he whispered: "Derek, we got her. _She’s ours_.“ Derek blinked before he realized what Stiles was saying and then sucked in a breath, pulling Stiles close and holding him for what seemed forever.

They got her. She was theirs, was the only thought going through his head. It was practically the first thought in the morning and the last thought before he fell asleep since then. And the last few days were a flurry of motion, getting the room ready or buying even more baby stuff, baby-proofing the house; mixed with arguments about the name. First they argued about naming her after someone from their family, and Derek, even though he was glad Stiles wanted to name her Laura, was strongly against it and it took him a while to explain to Stiles that he loves his family, but he doesn’t want their baby girl named after any of them. He also didn’t wish to push Stiles’ mothers name on the child, because Stiles barely mentioned his mother, even after so much time has passed since her death. It was a fight that lasted through the entire night and ended in tears on Stiles part.  
  
Then they took suggestions from the pack.  No, Scott, we will not be naming her Dora, so you could call her Dora the explorer. No, Lydia we will not call her Persephone,  you of all people should know your history, for gods sake.  
  
Five days later and they still haven’t picked out a name for her. They had another two weeks before they could pick her up from the hospital, and Stiles was insistent about naming her with a happy name, something meaning joy or happiness, but Derek  went against it when Isaac supplied that his name means laughter. (see, you already have happiness in the pack, Isaac said, Stiles yelling over him: you can never have enough happiness, you idiot!) Boyd suggested Eunice, because that was his neighbors name, an old lady of 84, and chance would have it, she once explained her entire history when his mother volunteered him to help out in the garden and he learned that her name means joyous, but Stiles refused it in a second because: "I am not in any way naming our baby after an old lady no matter how joyful it sounds!“. Boyd, after some debate agreed in the end, it really was an „old people“ name, he should know, he was named after his grandfather.  
  
Two hours ago, he and Stiles had a minor fight when Stiles brought home the Baby names book. They sat down and started reading from letter A onwards, and mostly it went like this:  
  
"Aria?“ Stiles said no, because he really does not want to think of  khm, fat singing people every time he calls her name. Derek huffed, he liked it, but then again…

Minutes later, he singled out a name that caught his eye. "Brigitte? It means strength or the „high one“, it’s an old name but…“ Stiles just shook his head, turning the page.  
  
"Dinah?“  
  
Derek said no.  
  
"Elizabeth?“  
  
Stiles said no, he doesn’t want his child named after the Queen, thank you very much, they could then call her Diana for all good it would do, because a goddesses name is better then a queen’s name and no, Derek, just said no.  
  
He was about to turn the page when Stiles said out of the blue: "Hermione?“, and Derek just stared. He did wonder when Stiles would start with those names.  
  
"What?“  
  
"We are not naming her Hermione, Stiles.“  
  
"Why not? She was only the greatest witch of her time, she was brilliant, amazingly smart ..“  
  
– "Stiles, no.“  
  
It went on, and ultimately Stiles threw his hands up in the air screaming that he can’t believe they can’t agree on a name, that she would remain nameless, to hell with it, slammed the book closed and left it on the couch together with Derek before stalking to the kitchen. Derek sighed and tried not to break the couch underneath him with his claws.  Both of them were  short on nerves, he knew that, but this was getting ridiculous.

The only name they kind of agreed upon was Luna, but secretly Derek didn’t really like it, it tied her too much to the werewolf side of everything, but Stiles thought it was perfect because of it.  He sighed again, opening the book back to letter E. He couldn’t pick out any, and he tried saying some of them out loud but, none of them fit. Emma was a nice name, and the meaning was nice too, but it was so… Common. His eyes went to the end of the page and there it was.

There.  
He couldn’t believe they haven’t thought of it before, actually.

"Stiles!“  
  
There was no call back. Well then. He got up and went to the kitchen, where he found Stiles sitting at the table, a glass of water in front of him, looking out the window, his eyes unfocused. He sat down next to him and waited. But Stiles didn’t acknowledge his presence, or he ignored him on purpose, he wasn’t sure. He opened the book and started reading:  
  
"It’s an old norse name, and derived from two words. The first element, _ei-_ is derived either from _aina(z)_ meaning “one" or “alone", or _aiwa(z)_ meaning “ever" or “eternal".The second element _-ríkr_ derives either from _rík(a)z_ meaning “ruler" or “prince", or from an even older * _ríkiaz_ which meant “powerful" and “rich".The name is thus usually taken to mean something along the lines of “one ruler", “eternal ruler" or “ever powerful". „  
  
Stiles turned his head, looked at the book and then at Derek. "I really don’t want to fight about this. We shouldn’t be fighting about baby names, why are we fighting about this? We should be happy, I am happy, are you happy?“ Derek reached out his hand and pulled Stiles’ into his, interlacing their fingers. "I am… happy. And we are not fighting, we are just not agreeing.“ Stiles looked like he wanted to push it further, but after a second he nodded, squeezing his fingers. "Ever powerful?“  
  
Derek gave him a little smile. "Yes.“  
  
"So, tell me, what’s the name?“  
  
Derek gave it a moment, thinking about it. He liked the name, a slight variation, but … It had such a strong meaning, to both of them, he wasn’t sure how Stiles would react to it. There was already so much history in the name. He brought their clasped hands closer to him, pushing then against his heart so Stiles could feel the beat underneath.  
  
"Erika.“ Stiles’ eyes went wide, before his expression turned into a soft smile that reached his eyes.  
  
"The name is Erika?“ Derek nodded.  
  
"Ok. The name is Erika. Ever-powerful. I like that, and if she turns out to be anything like her, we will really have a lot on our hands. Gods, imagine that!“ Derek laughed, and Stiles let out a giggle, before pushing his head into Derek’s shoulder.  
  
"She is ours, and her name is Erika and we, Derek, so help me god, we are going to make her _live_.“


End file.
